Shekhar Chitnis loves to do an experiment where he drops three ball bearings into separate hollow glass tubes.
In seven seconds, the ball bearing in one tube stops bouncing off the steel plate at the bottom. In another tube, the ball bearing takes about 21 seconds to come to a standstill. In the third, the ball bearing bounces for a whole minute and 21 seconds.
The extra bounce in the third ball comes from an amorphous metal alloy, or metallic glass, in the tube. Chitnis, vice president and chief operating officer at Lake Forest-based Liquidmetal Technologies, likes to brag that his company’s metallic glass, “is the best spring in the world.”
Liquidmetal holds a patent on one of the key alloys in the amorphous metal industry. Through the years, the company has gotten patents on other amorphous metal alloys, as well.
For now, Liquidmetal is small, with about $8 million in yearly revenue, mostly from its own line of golf clubs. But the company has lofty goals of landing its technology,born at the California Institute of Technology,in cars and even advanced weaponry.
“We started with golf as our first venture,” Chitnis said. “First we needed to brand the material.”
Liquidmetal started in 1986 in a bid to commercialize metallic glass. In 1994, a group called ATI Holdings in Tampa, Fla., bought a controlling stake in the company. The group is headed by John Kang, who took over as Liquidmetal’s chief executive in June. Kang had been the chief executive of Medical Manager, which was acquired by Healtheon WebMD Corp.
Based on its golf business, Liquidmetal said it expects about $10 million to $12 million in revenue this year. The company contends clubs using its material are lighter and stronger than those made of titanium. Its golf clubs are set to be used by Paul Azinger at the Ryder Cup next week.
But golf clubs are just part of the strategy. With $40 million in private funding, the company is hoping to go from the links to the factory floor. Similar advanced alloys have found their way into medical devices, power plants, wireless phones and cars.
“Several companies, aerospace and automobile companies, are interested in the general field,” said Todd Hufnagel, an assistant professor in the metals at Johns Hopkins University. “There’s lots of interest from companies like Boeing. I have talked to General Motors, Ford, General Dynamics.”
But whether Liquidmetal can capitalize on big-name interest in new alloys is an open question. The company isn’t the only one trying to make metallic glass a commercial success: Honeywell International Inc. also makes metallic glass in sheet form, while Alcoa Inc. thinks metallic glass could have a bright future, too. Alcoa acquired Howmet Casting, one of the first commercial makers of amorphous metal.
“The next Holy Grail in the material science is amorphous metal,” Chitnis said. “Everyone is looking into this field.”
Liquidmetal said it is talking to various defense companies about using its amorphous alloy. The Army is said to be interested in finding a substitute for depleted uranium in armor-piercing projectiles.
A study carried out at Caltech found that unlike a conventional warhead, which flattens on impact, the sides of a metallic glass projectile sheer off, making it even sharper.
“This would replace aluminum and titanium in aircraft,” added William Johnson, a Caltech material science professor and vice chairman of Liquidmetal.
Liquidmetal’s amorphous alloy is said to be lighter than steel. It has a strength-to-weight ratio that is four times better than aluminum, three times better than steel and twice that of titanium, according to the company.
Because of the material’s lightness and durability, Liquidmetal said, it is expected to be used soon by an unnamed wireless phone maker. Most makers use plastics for phone cases because it is light. But plastic breaks easily.
Metallic glass is no earth-shattering discovery. In fact, Pol Duwez of Caltech first discovered the material in 1959. The only problem with the alloy was that it could not find commercial applications because of its high cost and the high temperature required to form the glass-like metal.
But after more than four decades, Liquidmetal and other players have been able to develop lower cost and lower temperature processes to produce amorphous metal alloys for commercial applications.
“The original material (discovered in 1959) was more of a scientific curiosity,” Johnson said. “The new material has more commercial viability.”
Liquidmetal has an exclusive license to the amorphous alloy developed at Caltech, as well as 32 other patents. That alone makes the company a player in the industry.
“The original patent was licensed (to Liquidmetal) in 1993,” Johnson said.
Johnson, along with Caltech’s Atakan Peker, were responsible for the patent on an alloy that Caltech developed in 1993.
“It has taken seven years to make it commercial and for product development,” Johnson said.
In return for its patent, Caltech has about a 10% equity stake in Liquidmetal.
“There is nobody that I know competing with them (Liquidmetal) directly in the sense of making bulk amorphous metals for structural applications,” said Hufnagel of Johns Hopkins. “It is probably one of the most significant developments in structural metals in 30 to 40 years.”
But Hufnagel offers some cautionary words, as well.
“That one patent Caltech has that is licensed to Liquidmetal is probably the most important one, but it’s not like it’s the only one, and it’s not like it’s going to necessarily remain the most important one.”
Liquidmetal faces other barriers, mainly cost. Its alloy, which is made of five elements,zirconium, titanium, copper, nickel and beryllium,is 10 times more expensive than steel and three times more expensive than titanium.
“Although it has wonderful properties, its not that it is going to replace steel any time soon because it can’t compete on a cost basis,” Hufnagel said. “The thing that limits is the cost. You have to come in with an application where you are willing to pay the premium in price.”
For now, Liquidmetal is looking to raise more money to fund research and development and to meet its operating needs, officials said. n
